Angel Gonzalez-Prado, whose legs have been paralyzed by spina bifida, cheers from her wheelchair with her squad at Sequoia High School in Redwood City.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Angel Gonzalez-Prado, whose legs have been paralyzed by spina...

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Junior varsity cheerleader Angel Gonzalez-Prado, 16, who has had several major surgeries, cheers from her wheelchair at Sequoia High School in Redwood City.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Junior varsity cheerleader Angel Gonzalez-Prado, 16, who has had...

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Angel, who is getting accustomed to attention, hugs her mother, Cynthia Prado, after a game.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Angel, who is getting accustomed to attention, hugs her mother,...

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Angel and the rest of Sequoia's squad prepare to greet cheerleaders from the opposing team during a game.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Angel and the rest of Sequoia's squad prepare to greet cheerleaders...

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As a cheerleader, Angel doesn't kick but does upper-body routines.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

As a cheerleader, Angel doesn't kick but does upper-body routines.

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The shadows of the Sequoia High School junior varsity cheerleaders are cast onto the track during the junior varsity football game on Friday, September 28, 2012 in Redwood, Calif.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

The shadows of the Sequoia High School junior varsity cheerleaders...

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Sequoia High School junior varsity cheerleader Angel Gonzalez-Prado (front) gets a push from Elisa Carrizales while sharing a laugh with coach Stacy Morell (far right) during the junior varsity football game on Friday, September 28, 2012 in Redwood, Calif.

Sequoia High School junior varsity cheerleader Angel Gonzalez-Prado (in wheelchair) is helped by friend Issac Whiting following the junior varsity football game on Friday, September 28, 2012 in Redwood, Calif.

Twenty-one ponytails with sparkly purple ribbons bounce, while 21 sets of silver pom-poms swish, on the sidelines of the Sequoia High School junior varsity football game in Redwood City. Twenty immaculate pairs of white shoes stand at attention - along with four black wheels.

There has never been a cheerleader in a wheelchair at Sequoia High School. The United Spirit Association, which runs the state and national cheer events that Sequoia competes in, has never seen one either. Never, until now.

New cheerleader Angel Gonzalez-Prado, 16, has spina bifida, a birth defect that prevents the spine from properly forming around the spinal cord. The disease paralyzed Angel's legs and required her to have more than 15 surgeries - so many her mom lost count.

All eyes are often on Angel when the Sequoia cheerleading team performs. "It's nerve-racking when everyone's staring at you," she said. "They say, 'There's a girl in a wheelchair!' There are a lot of big eyes and shocked faces."

Angel doesn't kick or do aerial stunts, but she cheers, claps and does upper-body choreography along with the rest of the team. During the just-concluded football season, there were even portions of the halftime show in which the other cheerleaders surrounded her while she performed.

An idea forms

Angel had major spinal surgery just a few months before starting high school. She had a full-time aide and watched the cheerleaders from the stands during her freshman year. She earned academic honors and participated in other activities, including Girl Scouts, a club for young entrepreneurs and a math tutoring program at Stanford.

She grew stronger, and when cheerleading tryout dates were posted in the spring, she mentioned to her friend - a cheerleader - that she might be interested. Her friend talked to coach Stacy Morell, who was enthusiastic about the idea.

When Morell first met Angel, she recalls her being "bubbly and smiley. That, right away, spoke to me. I thought she could be a good cheerleader and good representative of the school."

Morell contacted the United Spirit Association for guidance and was surprised to learn that no one had ever asked about cheerleaders in wheelchairs.

The association contacted two other national cheerleading organizations, and together they devised rules for including Angel in competition. They based the rules - which include keeping the wheelchair in one place and padding it - on existing rules for cheerleaders with leg braces.

"I'm still learning how to modify for Angel," Morell said, "but I want everyone to experience cheerleading. Anyone who has a desire should go for it."

Major surgery last year

Rinsky hasn't seen Angel cheer in person, but he's seen a photo of her raising her pom-poms in the air - something she would not have been able to do before her most recent major surgery in June 2011.

Surgeons reached her spine through a 15-inch incision in the front of her body, because there was too much scar tissue to go in through her back. They spent seven hours in the operating room retracting her lungs, navigating around her kidneys and intestines, removing - then replacing - her diaphragm, extracting a rib and six spinal disks, and finally fusing seven of her vertebrae together to straighten and strengthen her spine.

Angel spent two weeks recovering in the hospital and the rest of the summer recuperating at home. Before the surgery, she played wheelchair basketball and participated in modified swimming, water skiing and rock climbing. She thought she might try out for her high school's cheerleading team, but the goal now seemed miles out of reach. It's not easy to cheer when you can't sit up on your own.

"It was like having a baby again," Angel's mother, Cynthia Prado, said when recalling the months after her daughter's surgery. Angel had once been so independent that she took the bus to preschool by herself. Now she cried when her mom had to leave her home alone.

Getting respect

But with her new spot on the cheerleading squad, Angel is focused on the future.

Her cousins have posted photos of her cheering on social media. "I'm all over Instagram and Facebook," she said. "It's embarrassing." But there's one bit of fan attention that Angel remembers with pride. When her team performed in a Fourth of July parade, a little girl in a wheelchair spotted her and pointed her out to others in the crowd.

"I could tell she was excited," Angel said.

When asked whom she most respects, Angel sometimes names Bethany Hamilton, the surfer who lost an arm in a shark attack at age 13 and has continued surfing. Morell asks the girls on her team to reveal someone they most respect in a written survey she uses to choose cheer captains.